


Tension

by toesohnoes



Category: Hunger Games (2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-15
Updated: 2012-04-15
Packaged: 2017-11-03 16:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/383423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toesohnoes/pseuds/toesohnoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone was bound to snap.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tension

They are balancing on a knife-edge, all of them. The tension could break and draw blood at any moment.

It's no surprise, really, when Katniss snaps.

All it takes is one wrong word, and off-hand remark that is misinterpreted, and then Cinna finds himself thumping back into the wall behind him with a thud. She's a lot smaller than him, but she's strong and she's tough. Her arm slams into his neck and holds him back against the wall, like a belt to keep him in place.

He doesn't struggle.

He rests against the wall and breathes as best he can, watching as her own actions hit her. The pressure against his neck relents, but she doesn't back away entirely. Her arm still rests against him, even if it no longer holds bruising force.

"That wasn't funny," she says, keeping face.

Around Cinna, she never needs to do that. He doesn't know what it would take to persuade her of that. From him, she truly has nothing to fear. "I know," he promises. "We are taking this very seriously."

The Capitol's control of the nation is at risk. More important, to Cinna and Peeta and Gale and all the others she has enraptured, Katniss is at risk.

She looks into his eyes, holding him in place, and he is struck with the desire to kiss her. More than that. Different. He wants to wrap her in his arms and hide her away from the cold, cruel world that she has been born into; he wants to change that world for her, even if he can't. He has to try.

She eases away from him and evaluates him with carefully guarded eyes. Did she look like that when he first met her? He remembers a scared, cautious girl. Katniss still has those qualities, but the Games have hardened her into a weapon. Brittle edges and hardened steel wait in her eyes.

"Did I hurt you?" she asks.

He shakes his head, although his throat aches and he thinks that his neck will be tender for days. "Don't worry about it," he says. She has enough on her plate without adding guilt about a few bruises onto her conscience. He even manages to give her a smile.

When it is his damaged society that has done this to her, a smile is the least that he owes.


End file.
